Two opening-round playoff series bounded closer to completion Monday, as the Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars both tallied strong victories to move one win away from advancing to Round 2 of the 2025 NHL Playoffs.

The Tampa Bay Lightning will need to salvage their season on the road in Game 5 on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. ET, while the Colorado Avalanche will host the Stars on Thursday in a Game 6 with their season on the line.

Here’s how Monday’s two-game NHL playoff slate went down:

Panthers 4, Lightning 2

(Panthers lead series 3-1)

Right on cue

One day earlier, Paul Maurice explained that he loved having Brad Marchand on his team — specifically on this third line — because he believed the veteran was capable of helping young center Anton Lundell locate another level of offensive production.

That duo was responsible for the game’s first goal. A good forecheck by Marchand negated icing and ignited the play. Eetu Luostarinen then made a fine play to find Marchand out of a scrum, and Marchand neatly found Lundell.

The young center made no mistake once he was left alone in the slot, burying a shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy’s stick side.

It was a big moment for the Panthers, but it was also about the only offense they produced all night. Their star forwards have gone pretty quiet during the past few games.

That said, I thought Marchand played his most effective game of the series. He’s just getting comfortable in Florida, but I’d anticipate him having a big moment or two before this series concludes. — Josh Yohe

Replay to the rescue for Bolts … only temporarily

Aaron Ekblad, of all people, appeared to even the game on a power-play goal in the third period, setting the home crowd into a frenzy.

Jon Cooper, however, challenged the play for being offside, and he was right on the money.

Replays clearly showed that Sam Bennett was ahead of the play, giving the referees the easy decision to overrule the initial goal call.

Ekblad, however, had the last laugh when he dramatically scored again — and this one counted — late in the third period to tie it. — Yohe

Stars 6, Avalanche 2

(Stars lead series 3-2)

Malinski momentum-killer

The game turned late in the second period on a Sam Malinski elbow of Dallas’ Sam Steele (it just as easily could have been called interference). Colorado scored two goals in 2:27 — Artturi Lehkonen chipping in a Marty Necas shot and Nathan MacKinnon overpowering Matt Duchene before firing a wrist shot past Jake Oettinger — to cut Dallas’ lead to 3-2 shortly after killing off a penalty and dodging a Roope Hintz breakaway opportunity. The Avalanche had all the momentum and the equalizer seemed inevitable.

Then Malinski knocked Steele to the ice long after the puck had passed him, and everything changed. On the ensuing power play, Duchene one-touched a Mikko Rantanen pass for a beautiful cross-crease feed to Wyatt Johnston, who one-timed it past Mackenzie Blackwood for a 4-2 lead. Just 1:44 after that, Alex Petrovic’s shot was tipped in by Mason Marchment to restore the three-goal Stars lead. A blowout had become a nail-biter, then turned right back into a blowout thanks to one foolish hit. — Mark Lazerus

Blackwood comes down to earth

Blackwood had been, statistically speaking, the best goalie in the postseason through four games, with a sparkling .938 save percentage and 7.11 goals-saved above expected (per Evolving Hockey), both leading the league’s 16 playoff teams.

But Blackwood regressed hard to the mean in Game 5. Johnston’s opening-minute goal caught Blackwood by surprise, but it came from an inexcusable angle. And Blackwood lost sight of Thomas Harley’s goal in the final minute of the first, as it hit his shoulder, and fluttered up and over.

Blackwood gave up just seven goals on 114 shots through the first four games. He gave up five goals on 18 shots in Game 5 before being replaced by Scott Wedgewood to start the third period. His counterpart, Oettinger, meanwhile, was mostly excellent on Monday, making big stops on Necas (darting across the crease and getting his right toe on a one-timer) and Cale Makar (a big glove save on a shot from the slot in the second period), among others. — Lazerus

(Photo of Wyatt Johnston celebrating his power-play goal against Colorado: Jerome Miron / Imagn Images)